Once we get our students speaking English, we can
give them some hints.

I’d like to talk about “emphasis”, which means
making one part of the sentence more important than it would
normally be. There are many different ways of showing emphasis
in English.

1)…in speech.
Emphasized words are spoken in a louder voice than normal.

2)…in writing.
This kind of emphasis can be shown by using CAPITAL LETTERS or
by underlying the word, or by using italics ( on
printed material).

Ex: Give it to
ME! Nobody came to class.
This is your last chance.

3)…put on
auxiliary words. This can give more emotional force to the
whole sentence.

Ex: It was
a nice party!
You really have lost weight!
You must believe me!
I am sorry!

4) …by using
special words, such as really, certainly , so
and such.

Thank
you so much. It was such a lovely party. I
really enjoyed it.

5) …repetition of
certain words.

She looks much,much
older now.
They were so,so happy.

Of course, it would be more interesting if the
students made up their own sentences, where they can use capital
letters, or underlying to give emphasis.

The next step is to have them read their
sentences, this time it’s the voice intonation that expresses
emphasis. Reading aloud is always a good practice for
improving pronunciation. They can try recording their voices and
then use play back to hear themselves. This can be an enormous
help.

The teacher can also read something and tape it for the students
to listen to. The context can be quite simple. What counts is
hearing the correct pronunciation.

A Nice Thought:

“A dog is a dog, except when he is facing you. Then he is
MISTER dog!!!